Erie's purchase of land on U.S. 287 raises ire of rural preservationists

20-year pact designed to stem eastern Boulder County urban sprawl in danger of unraveling

By John Aguilar Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
12/15/2012 12:24:22 PM MST

Updated:
12/16/2012 12:06:19 AM MST

Kurt Eherenman (left), Heather Szott (middle) and Joe Szott of Lafayette are worried about Erie's plans for the property Erie is purchasing on the Erie/Lafayette border near Arapahoe Road and U.S. 287.
(
MARK LEFFINGWELL
)

If you go

What: Public meeting about southeast corner of Arapahoe Road and U.S. 287

When: 1 p.m. Sunday

Where: Lafayette Public Library, 775 W. Baseline Road

Sales tax revenues

Erie:

2009: $2.6 million

2010: $2.8 million

2011: $3.1 million

Lafayette:

2009: $8.3 million

2010: $8.3 million

2011: $9 million

Source: Town of Erie, City of Lafayette

LAFAYETTE -- It could hardly be more bucolic.

Sweeping pastures, grazing horses, fence lines silhouetted against a bank of clouds, and a westward vista to snow-capped mountains that is nothing short of postcard-picture perfect.

In fact, the area along U.S. 287, north of Baseline Road, has been considered so important for its rural landscape and agrarian character that nearly 20 years ago, Boulder County, Lafayette and Erie entered into an intergovernmental agreement that sought to "preclude increased development and urban sprawl" in the corridor.

Under the East Central Boulder County IGA, much of the area was given a "rural preservation" designation, restraining Erie and Lafayette from pursuing annexations or encouraging developers to come knocking.

But now a group of neighbors that live in and around the protected area are worried that a 45-acre swath at the southeast corner of Arapahoe Road and U.S. 287 is in danger of being transformed from verdant horse property to a busy retail center.

Erie, which lists the corner on its website as a "retail development opportunity," has been swiftly buying up acreage -- a 6-acre parcel earlier this year for $895,000 and a 23-acre piece set to close next month at a price of $2.5 million.

The town has expressed interest in a third property there as well.

Neighbors fear that as soon as the 20-year rural preservation agreement between the county, Lafayette and Erie expires at the end of 2014, Erie will annex the corner and lay the foundation for a strip mall or collection of big box stores.

"A lot of us moved here because it's rural," said Heather Szott, a Lafayette resident who lives with her husband on 111th Street, adjacent to the corner in question. "It's one of the few places where you have access to highways but you can also hang out and it's completely rural. They want to change that and make it like everywhere else."

Kurt Eherenman, who has lived in Lafayette's Beacon Hill neighborhood just south of the corner for nearly three decades, said development there would destroy the rural buffer that Lafayette and Erie have long maintained as a safeguard against unchecked sprawl.

"Why right here? The buffer between the city and town is rapidly disappearing," Eherenman said. "There are so many other places to develop without hosing up intergovernmental agreements and municipal buffers."

The neighbors, who have formed an advocacy group called Quality Lafayette, plan to hold a community meeting on the issue at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Lafayette Public Library, 775 W. Baseline Road.

'Erie must be sovereign'

Erie Town Administrator A.J. Krieger said it's too early to predict what might happen at the controversial corner. The town is acquiring the properties there because they are viewed as having "strategic importance" for the town of 19,500, he said.

"The town felt it was in our best interests to own and physically control these properties," Krieger said. "We want to plan for a range of contingencies. But we don't have any concrete plans for the southeast corner of U.S. 287 and Arapahoe Road."

Any decision on whether to remain in an IGA with Lafayette and Boulder County past 2014, he said, would have to come from the Board of Trustees.

Erie Mayor Joe Wilson, who was out of the country last week but available for comment by email, said that he "absolutely" would support opting out of the IGA when Erie gets the chance to do so in two years.

"Saying this IGA has been a disaster for Erie economically may be an understatement," the mayor wrote. "It is a distinct disadvantage to Erie citizens to have a county in control of the land use of our town planning area."

Over the past two decades, Wilson said, Lafayette has enjoyed "lopsided" commercial and job growth in the U.S. 287 corridor while Erie has managed to attract a single shopping plaza anchored by a Safeway. He blamed the town's slow growth on U.S. 287 in part on Boulder County's "confiscatory purchases" of land once designated for commercial development.

"Erie must be sovereign in its own land-use issues now and into the future, like virtually every other city and town across this country," Wilson wrote.

Erie took in just over $3 million in sales tax revenues in 2011 while Lafayette reported $9 million during the same year.

The mayor noted that there are plenty of Boulder County residents in the U.S. 287 corridor who have pleaded with Erie to opt out of the IGA in 2014 and annex their property so they can sell it to a developer. The impediment standing in their way, he said, is rural preservation.

"Rural preservation has been used to confiscate private property. Families tell heartbreaking stories of how their futures and retirements have been ruined," he wrote. "Erie will always try to protect private property rights and keep government in its rightful place -- serving the people rather than dictating to them."

Tom Fredericks, a lawyer with a practice in Louisville, has lived at the southeast corner of U.S. 287 and Isabelle Road for 26 years. He said he's long had plans to sell his 40 acres to a commercial interest and secure his retirement with his wife.

He's had inquiries over the years from interested developers but any plans have all fallen through.

"It's in a very lucrative spot for commercial development but for this rural designation," Fredericks said.

The IGA, he said, amounts to an infringement on his right to do what he wants with his property.

"Any time you have a government putting a covenant on your land telling you that you can't go from rural agricultural to commercial, that strips value from your land," Fredericks said.

Those interested in maintaining rural acreage, whether it's a government or individuals, should purchase it and preserve it as open space, he said.

Urban renewal use questioned

Advocates of the East Central Boulder County IGA, however, say that's not always possible and that agreements like the one signed in 1994 can serve the same purpose as open space at a fraction of the cost. They worry that Erie is using its newly formed urban renewal authority to help it circumvent the IGA even before it expires.

Joe Szott, Heather Szott's husband, said the town would need to find conditions on the land that would satisfy several criteria for "blight" before condemning it for future development. As he motioned to a grassy field swaying in a light afternoon breeze outside his home, he scoffed at the idea that the land at the corner could ever seriously be considered blighted.

"It makes you laugh -- it's ridiculous," he said. "They're using the urban renewal authority as a cover to buy this land to expand."

Krieger, Erie's town administrator, acknowledged that the urban renewal authority owns the properties at the corner. But the money to buy them, he said, came from the town's general fund.

The authority, he said, has long-term plans to reimburse the general fund for the cost of the properties once commercial activity allows the urban renewal fund to use tax increment financing to establish a balance. So far, no blight determinations have been made and Krieger said any site condition survey of the land is "several steps down the line."

Boulder County Commissioner Cindy Domenico said Erie's use of its urban renewal authority in acquiring the land at Arapahoe Road and U.S. 287 troubles her.

"They were purchases by the urban renewal authority outside of their urban renewal boundaries," she said. "It doesn't seem within the spirit of the IGA."

Still hoping for a solution

But the commissioner said Boulder County still holds out hope that through continued dialogue and intergovernmental cooperation, the IGA can be salvaged after its 20-year run comes to an end.

"It's small but crucial because it's an area between the Town of Erie and the City of Lafayette but preserving it would preserve the identity of this unique community in the county," she said. "It matters to me because it matters to the constituents in that area."

Lafayette City Administrator Gary Klaphake said the city is investigating the situation but so far hasn't come up with a long-term strategy for dealing with its residents' complaints.

"What I can say is that it's not being ignored," he said.

While the idea of revenue sharing between Lafayette and Erie in the U.S. 287 corridor has been explored in the past -- something Klaphake said serves to "keep cities from feuding and having huge annexation sprawl" -- it's not clear if that will emerge as a possible solution now.

In the meantime, Eherenman said he hopes Quality Lafayette can energize people in both communities. He wants them to reach out to their elected officials and demand that the placid pastures and unperturbed viewscapes that define the rural beauty of east Boulder County not be traded in for another shopping center.

"We have a huge history of a nice, peaceful rural atmosphere and it's important to preserve that," he said.